The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics A Textbook of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics for Physicians and Medical Students. By Prof. Louis Goodman and Prof. Alfred Gilman. Pp. xiii + 1383. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941.) 50s. net.

The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics

CHAPTER 1 – The Alimentary System

Smoking during pregnancy is associated with preand postnatal growth retardation and increased risks of placental mortality, morbidity, and behavioral anomalies. The most likely explanation for these effects is that smoking causes fetal hypoxia resulting in interference with regulating state mechanisms and attenuation of cellular growth. In addition, smoking also increases the incidence of various complications of pregnancy which in turn compromises optimal development of the growing fetus. Suspicion that exposure to tobacco and cigarette smoke could be hazardous to both reproductive function and fetal development has been expressed for more than 100 years (Surgeon General, 1979) and has been the subject of experimental studies dating back to the turn of the century (e.g., Fleig, 1908; Guillain and Gy, 1907). During the 1930's and 1940's, additional studies demonstrated that cigarette smoke or nicotine could increase resorptions and stillbirths, and reduce birth weight in animals (Essenberg et al. 1940; Pechstein et al. 1937; Sodano, 1934; Schoeneck, 1941; Wilson, 1942). However, these studies were ignored as being irrelevant to the human condition. During the 1950 s, however, two epidemiological reports documented the detrimental effects of maternal smoking on fetal growth and showed that these effects were dose-related (Simpson, 1957) and were not due to indirect factors such as maternal age, parity, prepregnant weight, etc. (Lowe, 1959). Although there is no longer any doubt that maternal smoking is related to retarded and impaired fetal development, interpretation of these data as to causality is still controversial. In the present review, these data and the various hypotheses associated with their interpretation will be examined. Since a review of individual papers would be excessively tedious, this review will attempt to summarize general trends in the literature and will comment only on those individual papers which seem worthy of special attention. 1Research Institute on Alcoholism, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14203. Human Biology, December 1980 , Vol. 52, No. 4, pp. 593-625. ® Wayne State University Press, 1980 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.64 on Fri, 22 Jul 2016 05:40:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/41464571

Smoking during pregnancy: a review of effects on growth and development of offspring

The descriptive epidemiology of conjoined twinning in the United States was investigated using data from the Birth Defects Monitoring Program (BDMP), a nationwide congenital malformations surveillance system that monitors discharge diagnoses associated with a third of the births in the United States. This is the largest recorded series concerning conjoined twins; data were analyzed on 7,903,000 births monitored by the BDMP in the period 1970-1977. The analysis identified 81 sets of conjoined twins, for a crude incidence of 10.25 per million births. The most common types of conjoined twins were thoracoomphalopagus (28%), thoracopagus (18%), omphalopagus (10%), parasitic twins (10%), and craniopagus (6%). Conjoined twins are more common among females than males, and in nonwhites than whites. No maternal age effect was found. There was no evidence of seasonal or temporal clustering of the cases. The large number of conjoined twins who had birth defects that are not obviously linked to the conjoining (particularly neural tube defects and orofacial clefts) may provide insights into the pathogenesis of birth defects resulting from disordered embryonic migration and fusion.

Conjoined Twins in the United States, 1970–1977

CHAPTER 5 – The Skin and Appendages

A tobacco related epidemic of congenital limb deformities in swine.

Arsenic poisoning is one of the more important causes of heavy metal poisoning in domestic animals. Two species--dogs and cattle--are intoxicated more frequently than other animals; yet sporadic instances of poisoning have been observed in cats, horses, and pigs. Cases observed by veterinary clinicians are either peracute, acute, or chronic intoxications. Frequently the initial and only indication that a severe problem exists with peracute poisoning in a cattle herd is dead animals. Chronic intoxications are also observed in cattle. Acute intoxication is the most common form of arsenic poisoning observed and documented in the dog. Also intoxicated dogs were younger, i.e., 2-6 months of age. Arsenic is a severe alimentary tract irritant in domestic animals, and treatment in most instances consists mainly of symptomatic and supportive treatment. The source of intoxication, when it can be determined, is usually dips, sprays, powders, or vegetation contaminated by pesticides containing arsenic.

Epidemiology and toxicology of arsenic poisoning in domestic animals.

An outbreak of congenital malformations in swine occurred in Warren County, Missouri, during the late spring and summer of 1968. Sows which farrowed malformed offspring were bred and spent their gestation cycle in one pasture. Sows in an adjacent pasture bred by the same boar during the same period, farrowed only normal offspring. Field observation and epidemiologic studies indicate that the cause of the malformations was environmental in nature rather than hereditary. A comparison of the critical time period of exposure and environmental factors suggest an association between the malformations and consumption of wild black cherries (Prunus serotina) by the pregnant sows. Other environmental factors which might have contributed to the cause of the outbreak are discussed.

Outbreak of swine malformations associated with the wild black cherry, Prunus serotina.

Clinical and epidemiologic studies on seventy-nine canine blastomycosis cases in arkansas

A questionnaire was used to collect information on attitudes toward dogs and cats as companion animals. Thirty-nine attitudinal questions on dogs were grouped using principal component analysis (PCA) into six independent major factors; whereas, 38 items on cats were grouped using principal component analysis (PCA) into four independent major factors. In addition, 18 items which did not fit the PCA model but that were related to the respondents' attitudes towards dogs and cats as companion animals were analysed separately. The hypotheses tested, using analysis of variance (ANOVA) were that there was no significant relationship between the factors and five variables, i.e., pet ownership, age or sex of the respondents and their like or dislike of either dogs or cats. The respondents' like or dislike of dogs or cats influenced their attitudes towards ownership of companion animals. Furthermore, nonowners stated they derive minimal value from a dog or cat as a pet and viewed the negative characteristics of the animal itself per se as a more important factor in determining ownership. Female respondents were more emotionally involved and younger owners derived more of a feeling of importance-vanity from dog or cat ownership.

Lloyd A. Selby

Papers

A tobacco related epidemic of congenital limb deformities in swine.

Epidemiology and toxicology of arsenic poisoning in domestic animals.

Outbreak of swine malformations associated with the wild black cherry, Prunus serotina.

Clinical and epidemiologic studies on seventy-nine canine blastomycosis cases in arkansas

Attitudes of the public towards dogs and cats as companion animals.